We had Sam Darnold

[frankw]

Darnold flashed the physical talent here but let's be real his decision making was also at times absolutely atrocious. That was always the only question with him. He checked every other box. Really he was more a victim of timing here more than anything. Rhule as his coach certainly did him no favors. And the interior OL when he was here was disgusting. For all the cries about the OL Bryce's rookie season it was much worse before. Now we have the highest paid OL in the league and people actually tried to rationalize 54 passing yards in an entire game lmao.

All in all Darnold has made significant strides and while certainly coaching matters I think that is much more than just that. Adversity and being dumped and passed over seems to have had just as much if not more of an impact for his present day progression.

[strato]

On 1/25/2026 at 10:02 PM, NCBlu said:

Sam + Wilks would be a lot farther along in the rebuild. They wanted to run ball play D.

Our new offensive HC wants to run the ball play D... huh

Wilks wanted to. Canales has to. 

[frankw]

Canales certainly has his faults but what semblance of a passing game he's been able to create at times with Bryce Young is admittedly impressive.

I mean Wilks had both Darnold and Mayfield at one point and managed to flat out get his ass handed to him by the Bengals. He's bounced around the league ever since for a reason.

[strato]

13 minutes ago, frankw said:

Canales certainly has his faults but what semblance of a passing game he's been able to create at times with Bryce Young is admittedly impressive.

I mean Wilks had both Darnold and Mayfield at one point and managed to flat out get his ass handed to him by the Bengals. He's bounced around the league ever since for a reason.

Wake me up when we can break the run game blockade that a good defense puts up, by throwing the ball. Get back to two dimensional through our passing game. 
 

[frankw]

1 minute ago, strato said:

Wake me up when we can break the run game blockade that a good defense puts up, by throwing the ball. Get back to two dimensional through our passing game. 

If Canales has any interest in his job security he has already had conversations with Dan Morgan about upgrading the QB room this year.

[Double Trouble]

I always believed in you Sam, even when people made fun of me for defending you :’)